HOLDER APPARATUS FOR SECURING A FLAGPOLE TO THE GROUND

Description

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT Not Applicable

(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

Not Applicable

(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to flagpole holders and more particularly pertains to a new flagpole holder for mounting a flagpole in the ground.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The prior art relates to flagpole holders for mounting a flagpole in the ground, including those which include ribs to prevent rotation of the holder within the ground and those which define a cavity such that a pole may be inserted into the cavity to be secured with respect to the ground. However, the prior art fails to describe such an apparatus in which a cavity includes multiple sections of varying widths to adapt to various sizes of pole and which has a bottom portion in which the cavity does not reach which is thin and pointed to facilitate driving the holder into the ground.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a body which is elongated between a top end and a bottom end of the body. The body comprises a top section, a bottom section, and an intermediate section, wherein the intermediate section is coupled to and extends between the top section and the bottom section. A width of the top section is greater than a width the bottom section, and the intermediate section tapers from the top section to the bottom section. The body defines a cavity which extends into the body through the top end.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holder apparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a front side perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Line 6-6 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of an embodiment of the disclosure in use with a flagpole.

FIG. 8 is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 8 thereof, a new flagpole holder embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8, the holder apparatus 10 generally comprises a body 12 which is elongated between a top end 14 and a bottom end 16 thereof. The body 12 comprises a top section 18, a bottom section 20, and an intermediate section 22, wherein the intermediate section 22 is coupled to and extends between the top section 18 and the bottom section 20. A width of the top section 18 is greater than a width of the bottom section 20, and the intermediate section 22 tapers from the top section 18 to the bottom section 20. The body 12 further comprises a tip section 24 coupled to the bottom section 20 opposite the intermediate section 22. The tip section 24 tapers away from the intermediate section 22 to a point 26. The top section 18 and the bottom section 20 have cylindrical shapes, and the intermediate section 22 has a conical shape.

The body 12 defines a cavity 34 which extends into the body 12 through the top end 14. A width of an upper section 36 of the cavity 34 is greater than a width of a lower section 38 of the cavity 34. The upper section 36 and the lower section 38 of the cavity 34 have cylindrical shapes. The body 12 has an upper countersunk surface 28 adjacent to the top end 14 such that the cavity 34 widens toward the top end 14 of the body 12. The body 12 also has a lower countersunk surface 30 which widens from the lower section 38 of the cavity 34 to the upper section 36 of the cavity 34. A bottom inner surface 32 of the cavity 34 is angled downwardly with respect to the body 12 toward a central longitudinal axis of the body 12. The width of the lower section 38 of the cavity 34 is greater than a width of the bottom section 20 of the body 12. The cavity 34 extends through the top section 18 and into the intermediate section 22 of the body 12.

A plurality of ribs 40 is coupled to the body 12. The ribs 40 are integrally formed with the body 12 but may be separately formed in some embodiments. The ribs 40 are radially arranged around the body 12, extending outwardly from the intermediate section 22 and the bottom section 20 of the body 12. Each rib 40 of the plurality of ribs 40 has an outer surface 42 which is angled inwardly with respect to the body 12 from the intermediate section 22 of the body 12 to the bottom section 20 of the body 12.

In use, the holder apparatus 10 may be inserted into a ground surface 44 by pressing the point 26 of the tip section 24 of the body 12 into the ground surface 44. A rubber mallet, hammer, or similar tool may be used to insert the holder apparatus into the ground surface 44. The ribs 40 are angled to facilitate insertion of the holder apparatus 10 as described and act to prevent rotation of the holder apparatus in the ground surface 44 after installation. The holder apparatus 10 may be set, for example, at a depth in the ground surface 44 such that the top end 14 of the body 12 of the holder apparatus 10 is positioned above the ground surface 44 but below the tops 52 of grass 50 or other plants present in the ground surface 44.

A flagpole 46 may be inserted into the cavity 34 in an upright orientation to secure the flagpole 46 to the ground surface 44. The flagpole 46 may have a width complementary to the width of the lower section 38 of the cavity 34 or the width the upper section 36 of the cavity 34 such that the flagpole 46 frictionally engages the body 12 to fix the flagpole 46 to the body 12. The upper countersunk surface 28 and the lower countersunk surface 30 may act to guide the flagpole 46 into the upper section 36 of the cavity 34 and the lower section 38 of the cavity 34 respectively. The bottom inner surface 32 of the body 12 may help center the flagpole 46 in the cavity 34. A flag 48 may then be attached to the flagpole 46 for presentation above the ground surface 44.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.